Description of The Prior Art
The prior art has generally been directed to the ever present problem of hauling and storing precut fire wood for use indoors in fireplaces and the like by homeowners. Homes are being built with ever increasing amounts of space and with a multiplicity of fireplaces therein. Today architects are increasingly designing homes with wood burning fireplaces, wood burning stoves, and wood furnaces to serve as a primary heating source for substantial spaces within the home. However, the loading, handling and storage of this wood as a source of energy for heat has been extremely difficult, dirty and hazardous for persons to pursue utilizing the devices of the prior art because of the difficulty mobilizing sufficient quantities of wood in prior art carts due to the inherent danger of tipping over and injuring a person using same and in using the prior art devices the accompanying litter and debris falling from the fire logs onto the floor of a person's home. In addition, many of the prior art devices are difficult to grip and maneuver and mechanically complex to build containing numerous parts.
Commonly used manual manipulative mechanisms for transporting various objects do not conveniently, if at all, serve reasonably the needs of the average person in bringing chopped wood from outdoors into a residence or the like and to position adjacent to a burning site for storage and progressive use without the danger being tipped over and without debris constantly falling to the floor from the fire logs as they are removed from the implement. As an example, a typical wheel-mounted fire log rack (one of which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,264,081 issued on Apr. 28, 1981 to Markham) has a very high center of gravity and is easily tilted over and further does not provide any means whatsoever of preventing debris from littering the floor of the residence.
Typical of the carts patented in the 70's are U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,669,464 issued to Linzmeier and 3,841,651 issued in 1974 to Bigney. Each lacks any capacity for carrying and transporting logs and at the same time preventing the accumulation of debris underneath after use. The Bigney patent was not adapted at all for hauling and transporting fire logs. Although Linzmeier has a low center of gravity it is adapted primarily for carrying lumber, is composed of numerous parts and provides no means for preventing the accumulation of debris thereunder when used as a storage implement. Other pertinent prior art includes U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,624 issued in 1988 to Mace for a "small, lightweight, strong, multiple use cart having a removable vertical support for moving heavy items in or out of dwellings via a person size doorway; U.S. Pat. No. 4,326,731 issued on Apr. 27, 1982 to Woychio et al for a folding cart; U.S. Pat. No. 4,523,768 issued on Jun. 18, 1985 to Dluballa for a "collapsible cart-stand"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,488,733 issued on Dec. 18, 1984 to Hellsteen for a wheeled plate carrier and U.S. Pat. No. 4,679,805 issued on Jul. 14, 1987 to Cunningham for a space saver cart.
There are also various other utility carts proposed earlier in the prior art for household and other purposes that likewise have no reasonable adaptability to the hauling and storage of wood, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,472,989 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,021,011. This last patent proposes that a caster supported platform rack be provided for hauling a relatively long lengths of logs which comprises not only a debris catching concave platform but opposed open top U-shaped cradle members each in a common plane with a U-shaped support member to which the casters are pivotally connected. This platform is distinguishable from and inferior to the present invention in that it does not provide for ease of assembly and disassembly with at most a hammer in the manner presented by this novel invention.